Fergie's Tech Blog

Online Search for Registry Ends in a Wrong Turn

Megan Tench writes in The Boston Globe:

When a customer tried to renew her driver's license online, and Googled the Registry of Motor Vehicles, a website appeared, asking for her name, e-mail address, and credit card number.

But instead of renewing her license, she was charged a $10 fee for simply using the site.

Registry officials issued a warning to the public yesterday that if they paid up on such a website, they had been scammed.

Officials uncovered the online ploy Thursday when the customer called the Registry, asserting that she paid $10 to be directed to the RMV website, only to find out that due to personal circumstances she could not renew her license online, said Anne L. Collins, the department's registrar.

But when that complaint surfaced, officials did not know what the customer was talking about, Collins said.

posted by Fergie @ 3/03/2007 11:47:00 AM